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BORN 
1644 



LANDED 
1682 



DIED 

1718 



BICENTENNIAL 

1882 



CELEBRATION OF FOUNDER 
1908 

Watchman, what of the year? what of this year? 

From October, four to ten ! 
I'm watching cloMly from my tower, 

The good and bad deeds of men. 




. <.i of hfc, 
I u» live peaceably with nations and men; 
iklnii Christ as our example, 

and do good, like Pcnn. 



Do right, fear nothing, but "God, 
And when life here with us shall end. 
Our spirits will soar away to glory rf 
And we will meet with William Pern 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



WILLIAM PENN 

THE INDIAN'S FRIEND 



AND 



Founder of Pennsylvania 



BY 



ROBERT MILLAR 



- PHILADELPHIA 



PRICE TEN CENTS 

Copyright 190B, by Robert Millar 




6 5 9 ,T 



^ 






LIFE AND CHARACTER 

OF 

WILLIAM PENN 



"^I^VER since this world has been inhabited by mankind, there 
^^^ have been men whose characters have stood out pre- 
eminently from the great majority. 

In speaking of the past, some have to be admired as poets and 
painters; others as having displayed their intellectual powers as 
philosophers and statesmen, and a number, not less worthy of our 
admiration, as theologians and historians. Many eminent men 
have appeared on this world's stage, in these different departments 
of science and art, but as they were dust, unto dust have they re- 
turned, showing us that as the leaves of successive autumns 
follow each other to the earth, so do the various generations of 
men pass on to the tomb. But, although they have disappeared 
from amongst us themselves, thej' have left behind them words 
and works which will live and be admired till nature itself decays. 

William Penn has not left behind him any great works which 
show him to have been a great literary character, but he might 
have produced greater works than he has done had he not em- 
ployed so much of his time in defending and advancing the 
Quaker religion, the denomination to which he belonged. We 
have only to mention him as having been the founder of Penn- 
sylvania to ensure him of a lasting fame. 

It was he who drew out the plan of the magnificent city of 
Philadelphia. It may be said of his writings, as of Thomas 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 



DeQuincey's, they are a glorious congregation of threads 
and patches. In them he does not display the giant mind 
of a Shakspere, the philosophy of a Newton, the genius of a 
Milton, or the knowledge of a Bacon or Macaula}^ yet in his own 
sphere of life he was a great man, and well worthy of our consid- 
eration. 

His greatness chiefly lay in his untiring zeal and ardent desire 
for the general welfare of mankind. To have a proper view of 
such a character as Penn, we must carry our minds back to the 
times in which he lived, and remember that his lot was cast in an 
age of great political and religious conflict. It was not so much 
for political rights as for religious toleration that he so ardently 
sighed. 

He struggled manfully for freedom of conscience; suffered per- 
secution with fortitude; was a brilliant star which appeared in 
the darkness of the seventeenth century. The agitated period in 
which he lived, demanded firmness, and with fortitude not to be 
shaken by reverses or dangers, did he nobly aid in bringing about 
measures for the security of religion, of law, and of freedom. We 
often find that great men are not formed without severe dis- 
cipline, and in our present hero, we have a noble example, which 
will be fully borne out in what remains to be considered in his 
life and character. In walking through a garden of flowers, they 
may all appear to be beautiful, and much to be admired; still, if 
we had our choice of only a few of them, we are sure we could 
all find some that we could fancy above the rest. So is it in the 
moral world as in the natural. Although we ought to love all 
men, yet there are some who deserve greater praise and higher 
admiration than others. We have chosen William Penn as a 
flower that bloomed in the past, and without any further intro- 
duction, we will now proceed to give you a brief sketch of his 
life and character. 



WILLIAM PENN 



William Penn was the son of Admiral Sir William Penn, a dis- 
tinguished naval officer. He was born in London, in the 5-ear 
1644, and received the first rudiments of his education at Chigwell 
school in Essex, England. This place was particularly con- 
venient for him, being near Wanstead, which was then the 
country residence 'of his father. As something remarkable is 
usually said of all great men in the early part of their lives, so it 
is said of him, that when he was alone in his chamber, being then 
eleven years old, he was suddenly surprised with an inward com- 
fort, and as he thought, an external glory in the room, which 
gave rise to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest 
convictions of the being of a God, and that the soul of man was 
capable of enjoying communion with him. He believed he had 
been awakened or called upon to a holy life. But whatever was 
the external occasion or whether any or none, certain it was, that 
while he was at Chigwell school, his mind was seriously impressed 
on the subject of religion. 

Having left Chigwell at twelve years of age, he went to a pri- 
vate school on Tower Hill, which was near to his father's Lon- 
don residence. Here he had great advantages, for his father, to 
promote his scholarship, kept for him a private tutor in his own 
house. At the age of fifteen he had made such progress in his 
studies, that it was thought fit to send him to college. Accord- 
ingly he was sent to Christ's Church, Oxford. Here he paid 
great attention, and took great delight in his college exercises, 
yet allowing himself ample time for reasonable recreation. And 
though he pursued his studies, and at times indulged in manly 
sports, he never forgot the religious impressions which he had re- 
ceived at Chigwell school. 

These had been considerably strengthened by the preaching of 
Thomas Loe, a layman, w^ho had belonged to the University of 
Oxford, but had then become a Quaker. The doctrines which he 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 



promulgated seem to have given a new turn to the mind of Penn. 
Accordingly he, with a few other students, whom he found to 
have religious emotions in unison with his own, withdrew from 
the national forms of worship, and held private meetings, where 
they carried on devotional exercises amongst themselves. This 
gave great offence to the heads of the college, and Penn, at the 
age of sixteen, with the others, was fined for non-conformity. 

At this time an order came down from Charles the Second that 
surplices should be worn by the students according to the custom 
of ancient times. This was an unusual sight then at the univer- 
sity. Penn thought that the simplicity and spirituality of the 
Christian religion would be destroyed by the introduction of out- 
ward ceremonies and forms, was entirely opposed to them He and 
several others fell upon their fellow-students who appeared in 
them, and tore them over their heads. Being guilty of such con- 
duct they were expelled from college. 

In our opinion, we do not think he was justified in going so 
rashly to work, and though we do not see any good which would 
have resulted from the wearing of the surplices, neither can we 
see any harm, so that we give him no credit for the manner in 
which he acted in this affair. 

After his expulsion from college he returned home. His father 
received him coldly, on account of the public disgrace he had in- 
curred; but he was more displeased at him for abandoning what 
he called, the fashionable world, and mixing only with serious 
and religious people. His father thought that his manners, and 
the company he held, would be an obstruction in the way of his 
getting on in the world. He argued with him; this had no effect. 
He proceedsd to blows; but made nothing by that. He, therefore 
turned him out of doors. 

The father, however, either relenting, or hoping to gain his 
point by other means, brought him back to his own house. After- 



WILLIAM PENN 



ward he sent him to France, hoping that the change of scene and 
the gaiety of French manners might wean' him from his old con- 
nections. Remaining a short time in Paris, he then proceeded to 
Italy, and from thence home. This journey had not the de- 
sired effect his father wished; another plan must be tried, and 
having three estates in Ireland, he sent him there to take the 
management of them. All went on well for a short time, but 
Penn happening to be at Cork on business, was informed that 
Thomas Loe (before mentioned) was to preach in that city soon. 
He heard him preach, and the effect was the conviction of Penn, 
who afterward constantly attended the meetings of the Quakers, 
notwithstanding all obstacles. 

Shortly after this he was at another meeting of the Quakers, 
and a proclamation having been issued against all tumultuous 
assemblies, he and many others were committed to prison. 

In prison he wrote to a party of some influence.stating his case, 
and he was discharged from his place of confinement. His father was 
informed that he had become a Quaker, and sent for him to come 
home. The son obeyed, and the interview which passed between 
them is said to have been very affecting. It seems that his father 
ardently desired the promotion of his temporal interests.which he 
feared would be hindered by the way of life he had embraced. 
The son, sensible of the duty he owed his parents, and afflicted in 
believing that he could not obey him, but at the risk of his eter- 
nal welfare, humbly informed him that he could not act contrary 
to his conscience, for which he was expelled the second time 
from the paternal roof. 

We have to view him now as thrown upon the world without 
the means of subsistence, deriving support only from the belief 
that those who left houses, and parents, and land, for the kingdom 
of God's sake, would not be left unprovided for. His mother 
kept up a correspondence with him privately, and sent him money; 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 



he was also looked to by other kind friends, so that he was never 
left destitute. 

In his twenty-fourth year he became a preacher of the gospel 
and an author. But being a Quaker, and owing to the doctrine 
that he taught as such, coupled with the severity of the times, he 
was again put in prison. In this place he wrote a work entitled 
"No Cross, No Crown," the purport of which was to show that 
those who did not suffer for Christ here would not wear a crown 
in heaven. This work is rich in doctrine and scriptural example, 
profuse in a display of history; shows that its author must have 
been an extensive reader, and had a considerable knowledge of 
world. 

After being in confinement for several months, a message was 
sent from the king for his discharge: and no sooner was he liber- 
hted himself, than we find him employing his time in visiting 
those of his suffering brethren, comforting them under their trials 
and sufferings. He drew up an account of several of their cases 
and presented them to the Council — the result of which an order 
was obtained for their release. 

The Conventicle Act came out this year (1670) by which the 
meeting of dissenters was forbidden under severe penalties. Ptnn 
was one of the earliest victims to its decrees. As usual he preached 
and, as usual, he was put in prison for doing so. In a short 
time his ever memorial trial came on, which lasted five days. On 
the third day, the jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty," to 
the great dissatisfaction of the persons present on the bench as 
justices; they were kept in confinement two days longer, without 
receiving any refreshment. On the fifth day they returned the 
same verdict. They were fined in forty marks each for not find- 
ing the prisoner guilty, and Penn was fined the same for having 
his hat on while in court. He could not pay the fine, and was 
kept in confinement. His father, however, soon after paid it, and 



WILLIAM PENN 



he got out of his cell once more to have a sight of the green trees 
around him and the blue sky above him. This trial is inserted in 
his works, and any reader will be amply repaid by a perns d of it. 
It shows how nobly Penu stood up in his own defence; his 
legal knowledge; his firmness; and the oppression of the times. 

His father became reconciled to him, took ill, and sent for him; 
told him on his dying bed to do nothing against his conscience; 
admired him for his plain way of preaching, plain way of living, 
and left him an estate worth fifteen thousand pounds per annum. 

Again was he put in prison. While there he wrote to the High 
Court of Parliament. Comes ontof prison; travels into Holland 
and German}', returns to Englmd and gets married, as all wise 
men do, and settled down at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. 
During" the next eight years of his life, from his twenty-eighth to 
his thirtj'-sixth year, his time is chiefly employed in writing works 
of various kinds, such as "England's Present Interests Consid- 
ered;" "Naked Truth Needs no Shift;" "An Epistle to the Chil- 
dren of Light in this Generation;" "England's Great Interest in 
the Choice of a New Parliament," and about thirty others on 
topics similar to the above, all of which are proofs of an active 
mind; one well stocked with knowledge, and applied to the 
welfare of his country. 

Penn's father had advanced large sums of money for the good 
of the naval service, and his pay was also in arrears. For these 
two claims the government was indebted to him no less a sum than 
sixteen thousand pounds. His son William was desirous there- 
fore, of closing this account, and petitioned Charles, the Second, 
that letters patent might be granted him for land in America to 
that amount. 

The King having read the petition, sent it to the Priv}' Council, 
afterwards to the Lords' Committee of Trade and Plantations. 
Great opposition was made to it in both places, and for no other 
reason than that Penn was a Quaker. 



8 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 

The matter, at length, ended in favor of him, and he was by- 
charter, dated at Westminister, the fourth day of March, i68i,and 
signed bj^ privy seal, made and constituted full and absolute pro- 
prietor of all that tract of land which he had solicited and marked 
out and invested with the power of ruling and governing the same. 

This province in America was named Pennsylvania in honor of 
his father for his able services in the nav}^ The first thing that 
Penn did in regard to his new province, after having obtained the 
charter, was to draw up some account of it, and the terms on 
which he intended to part with the land. He also drew up a 
rough sketch of that great frame of government which he him- 
self wished to become the future and permanent one of the province. 

It consisted of twenty-four articles, and the first great funda- 
mental one, gave all who landed on that province that liberty of 
conscience which the laws of their own countr\^ denied them and 
in behalf of which he had both written and suffered frequently 
himself. The purchasers were well pleased with the terms, and 
they unanimously signed them. 

The governor, Penn, having some arrangements to make before 
embarking for his province, sent commissioners to confer with the 
Indians respecting their lands; they were enjoined in a solemn 
manner to treat them with all possible candor, justice and human- 
ity. He also sent a letter with them, stating therein to the In- 
dians that he would shortly visit them himself, and be their true 
friend. Several ships set sail for Pennsylvania, and the proprie- 
tor of the same soon followed. 

He left a delightful letter behind him to his wife and children 
foi their guidance in his absence; arrived in Pennsylvania in the 
year 1682; made his great treaty with the Indians; fixed on asite 
for his new city; drew out its plan, and called it Philadelphia. 

He afterwards met with h-'s Council, which sat twenty-two days 
engaged in making laws for the governing of the province. He 



WILLIAM PENN 



remained here for two j'ears, busily taken up in advancing every> 
thing he thought advisable for his new colony. 

Hearing of fresh persecutions in England, he repaired thither 
to use his inflvience with the court to stop them. When he ar- 
rived in England, he was in his fortieth year, and from this to 
his fifty-fourth his time was spent in preaching, in writing, and 
exerting his influence to the utmost for the good of his fellow-men. 

Having remained in Eiigland at this time for fourteen years, 
things were not going on so smoothly in Pennsylvania owing to 
his absence. He again embarked for the new world, and remained 
there for tw'o years, when business of importance called him home 
to England, and he left his new colony to return to it no more. 
As he advanced in life, he did not relax his ardor in doing good; 
for up till within six years of his death; he wrote, he preached, 
and went about doing good by every possible means. During 
the last six years of his life he became very embarrassed in cir- 
cumstances. Having laid out large sums of money for his new 
colony, and more especially for the good of the Indians, he was 
obliged to mortgage his province for six thousand six hundred 
pounds. This money was advanced him by his friends. 

A few years before he died he became subject to apoplectic fits, 
and a little defective in his memory, which some have attributed 
to insanit}^ or lunacy, which we think is incorrect, judging from 
the testimony of those who attended him during his illness. After 
a life of self-denial, of labor and suffering, he departed this life 
on the thirtieth day of July, 17 18, in the seventy- fourth year of 
his age, at Rushcomb, in Berkshire, England. He manfully en- 
dured the cross, and we have great reason to believe that he has 
now obtained the crown. 

Having now traced what we consider to be the leading incidents 
in this great man's life, it will be our object now to enlarge or 
consider more closely the principal features of his character. And 
we think we may deduce from what has been already given, and 
from what follows that he was a man of courage and benevolence; 
patient and persevering under many trials; possessing an active and 
philantrophic mind; did all in his power to ameliorate the physi- 
cal and advance the moral welfare of mankind. He notonlv laid 



10 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 

down precepts but showed a good example. Several authors have 
attempted to throw out insinuations upon his character, which so 
far as we can judge are unjust, and without good foundation. It 
is evident from his works that he was o. man of ability, and from 
his conduct through life, that he was a man of the purest con- 
conscience He was equalled by few in his attention to the poor, 
and his memory was held dear by those who lived in his own 
neighborhood, for the man}' of the good services done by him 
towards them. Several parents gave their children his full name 
in honor of the memory of his worth. And we cannot too much 
admire his noble treatment to the Indians in his colony. He 
knew they were human beings possessing the same nature as him- 
.self and treated them in the same manner as he would have liked 
to have been treated himself, had he been in the same position. He 
did not take the land from them by force, as too many would 
have done, but bought it from them. Neither did he meet them 
with swords and staves, but with a countenance indicative of love 
and good-will towards them in his heart. They formed a great at- 
tachment for him and said they would love, serve and obey him 
with all that they had. He, christian-like, fulfilled to them the 
promise he had made to them before he saw them: that of being 
their true friend. 

He has taught us in his much-to-be-admired dealings with them» 
that we ought to respect the lives and properties of the most un- 
enlightened nations. By using weapons, not carnal, but spiritual, 
he was the means of bringing many of these untutored Indians 
from ferocious habits to the blessings of civilized life. Here we 
have a picture grand, worthy of all praise; the savage meeting with 
the civilized as true friends; the barbarian and Christian meet 
as brothers; and here is lo be found ample scope for the artist 
to display his powers on the canvass. 

The soldier is to be admired in fighting bravely the battles of his 
country; the sailor who courageously faces the mighty waves of a 
tempestuous sea; but the man is more worthy of praise who is 
the instrument in God's hands of bringing many heathens from 
darkness to light, from ignorance to a knowldge of the truth. It 
was not to be great in the world's esteem, or to leave behind him 



WILLIAM PENN H 



a lasting fame, that he purchased the province of Pennsylvania; 
no, he had a nobler end in view. 

He designed it for a retreat, more particularly for the people of 
his own religious persuasion; but he had also in view all those 
who were suffering from religious persecution. He was desirous 
for them to leave the vicious customs and rotten parts both of the 
political and religious constitution of the old world, and embark 
for that empire which he had provided for them in the new, where 
they might worship God unmolested by any persecutors. Many 
of them were glad to take the advantage of such a change; and it 
has been well supposed that during the seventy years that Wil- 
liam Penn's principals prevailed, or the Quakers had the princi- 
pal share in the government, of Pennsylvania, that there was no 
spot on the globe, where, number for number, there was so much 
virtue, or so much true happiness, as amongst the iuhabitants of 
the province, and netting aside the early difficulties of a new col- 
ony, it was considered a little paradise upon earth. 

Penn seems to have been a man in real earnest, or he never 
would have accomplished what he did. He properly understood, 
that unless men were willing to undergo privations, and lead a 
life of self-denial in the course of their Christian warfare, they 
could never expect to become capable of wearing a crown of 
eternal glory. 

He was one who tasted persecution when he was very young, 
but these persecutions appear only to have strengthened him in 
his work and labor of love, and seldom, if ever, did he grow weary 
in well doing, oeing sensible that he would reap its fruits if he 
did not faint. 

Many a fainting heart must have thrilled with joy towards him 
for the arduous intercession and labors put forth by him for their 
relief. While many of his suffering brethren were fined and con- 
fined for their religion, he spared neither time nor talent for their 
benefit, and by his advocacy of and influence, he was the means 
of relieving many from their oppressed condition. He held forth 
that the nature of body and soul — of earth and heaven — of this 
world and that to come, differed; and that no man ought to be 
persecuted by his fellow-men in this world, for anything that be- 



m 2^ ^^^^ 



12 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF WILLIAM PENN 

longed to the next. Indeed, bis whole life appears to have been 
spent in advocating for religious toleration, and devising means 
and new schemes for the good of his country, and that happiness 
might prevail amongst men. For this was he twice turned out of 
his father's house, and for this did he suffer imprisonment so often 
and we believe had been called upon to die upon the scaffold for 
the same, he would have counted each step up the ladder, as 
taking him a degree nearer heaven in resigning to his fate. In 
all his writings,and nearly all his letters, (many of them he wrote) 
there breathes a spirit of piety and reliance upon God; and though 
his life was a scene of trial and suffering, we doubt not but he 
had intervals of joy and happiness the most solid and brilliant. 

An anecdote worth relating is recorded of him when in Penn- 
sylvania, which goes very much to show that he was a man void 
of all pride. It runs thus: "A little girl was travelling along a 
road, and it happened that Penn, who was on horseback, over- 
took her. He enquired where she was going, and she informing 
him, he, with his usual good nature, desired her to get up behind 
him; and bringing his horse to a convenient place, she mounted 
and so rode away on the bare back. Being without shoes or 
stockings, her bare legs and feet hung dangling by the side of 
his horse. So that, although he was the Governor of Pennsylva- 
nia, he did not think it beneath him to help a poor barefooted girl 
on her way." 

Although this may appear trifling to mention, yet when we see 
a great man stooping to do small things which are commendable, 
we doubt not but opportunities are only required to show more 
amiable traits in his character. 

In conclusion it may be said that he was a great statesman; he 
seems to have had a mind capable of directing its energies usefully 
to every department of a new colony, whether in that of agricul- 
ture, building, government or religion. Our opinion is that he 
was a kind husband, a loving father, a noble patriot, and a great 
and good man. 



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